Briefly: While the odds of ever getting to see a David Fincher version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are now slim to none, an alternate version of the tale has just been purchased. Sony Pictures has purchased a spec script called Captain Nemo, written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. The pair are best known for co-creating the hit Superman show Smallville, but also worked on the scripts for films such as Spider-Man 2 (the good one, from Sam Raimi), Shanghai Noon and I Am Number Four.

The script, which will be produced by Maleficent team Joe Roth and Palak Patel, tells a “a new take on the iconic antihero who was first introduced to readers in 1870 in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” [The Hollywood Reporter]